A landlord has celebrated the defeat of a plan that would have seen a pub that he used to run in Reading converted into a chain bakery.
A plan was submitted earlier this year to convert the Royal Albion in Oxford Road into a Greggs.
It followed the sale of the pub by brewery company Greene King in May last year.
The plan for its conversion into a Greggs was refused by Reading Borough Council earlier this month.
Darren Brett, who was the landlord of the Royal Albion from 2007 to 2019, has welcomed the decision.
When told about the refusal of the conversion, he said: “That’s good news, I’m actually pleased, I’d still like it to be a pub again, but I want there to be progress, I’d like to see it become a community asset and a focus point of the community again.”
The Royal Albion was marketed for £650,000, which Mr Brett thinks is an appropriate price for the pub.
He said: “It’s a massive plot and it’s in a good location on the Oxford Road, that’s about right, it was bought around that figure or slightly lower, there was an offer that was higher than me, that must’ve been the market at the time.”
Mr Brett, who lives in Calcot, currently runs The Traveller’s Rest near Reading Cemetery in Henley Road, Caversham.
He said: “In a nutshell, I’m not disappointed, I’d like it to be an asset for the community, it was a very successful pub, if there’s the right staff and management.”
“I think a private enterprise would be good there – it used to be a hotel, it could become that again.
“There is room in the market for a hotel – there are other ways of making it a viable business with multiple streams of income, providing drinks, food and a hotel for people to stay.
“I’d love someone to take it on. I think the only thing worse than it being a Greggs is it being derelict and getting more dilapidated.
“There’s going to be a lot of people that aren’t disappointed; they want it to be an asset to the community.”
The Royal Albion could receive protection if it is added to the council’s list of locally important buildings and structures.
While this listing would not protect the building from conversion or demolition, it would require the council to give special consideration to a site’s preservation when making planning decisions.
The justification for the listing is the Royal Albion’s long heritage as a hotel and pub stretching back approximately 150 years.
The decision on whether to add the pub to the local list will be made at the council’s planning applications committee meeting on Wednesday, November 5.
